Huntsville School Cyber Attack

Sophia Borrelli spoke to one parent who was shocked to learn cyber criminals targeted local schools.

Later that night.

Breaking news just into the waay 31 newsroom.

Huntsville city schools is canceling school tomorrow after after a cyber attack.

It shut down all learning today - both in-person and virtual!

The district believes it was a ransom-ware attack.

Officials are trying to determine what - if any - personal information may be compromised.

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Waay 31's sophia borrelli spoke to one man who was shocked to learn cyber criminals targetted local schools.

Sophia - what did that parent have to say?

One parent who has children in the district i spoke with said when he heard the news he couldn't believe it.

It's 2020, he said.

What's next?

Joseph pleva, parent: "that caught me completely off guard.

I mean i never thought could shut down school because of that."

Huntsville city schools - dismissed early monday - because of a potential ransomware attack on the district's system.

Craig williams, huntsville city schools chief communications officer: "our it help desk experienced a unusually high number of calls compared to what they would normally experience on a monday morning and so that was one of the big red flags that something could be up."

The chief communications officer for huntsville city schools - craig williams - explained what a ransomware attack is.

Craig williams, huntsville city schools chief communications officer: "essentially have a hacker who works to access your information and once they access that information, they change the password so that you cannot access it and they essentially try to take your information and get you to pay a sum of money in order to get it back."

As for if any personal information has been compromised - williams says it's too early in the investigation to say.

Craig williams, huntsville city schools chief communications officer: "we're working to examine now in terms of kind of the implications of the ransomware attack."

The school district is asking students, parents, faculty and staff to stay off district issued devices and log off any huntsville city schools platforms. craig williams, huntsville city schools chief communications officer: "that helps our it team work with authorities to identify the issue and work to mitigate the potential spread of the attack."

A huntsville cyber security expert i spoke with agrees - that is the best course of action for right now.

David jarmon, "vp of cybersecurity at gray analytics: "really to keep it from propagating through the system, they really need people to stay off the, off out of the applications and off of their computers so if they want to help, that's the best thing they can do right now."

Joseph pleva is concerned for his children's education and hopes the district can get this issue resolved quickly.

Joseph pleva, parent: "that they can find if not a way to get all of it back online, at least enough of it work arounds if they could, so that they can at least continue going to school for the amount of time that they are able to."

The district has yet to announce if learning will resume on tuesday.

Williams says the district will provide that information as soon as possible live in huntsville - sophia borrelli waay 31 news.

The district also is working with authorities to determine how this attack started.

Thank you, sophia.

We're learning ransom-ware attacks have been an issue across the country -- even before the coroanvirus pandemic.

According to "state-line, an initiative of the pew charitable trusts," at least 16 school districts were the target of attacks between the end of july and late september.

You're looking at some of those on your screen.

In 2019, there were 62 reported attacks on school districts.

That's compared